Long’s Lost Mine

There was a prospector whose name was L. O. Long that had arrived to the Dale area after he had done some mining in the rivers and creeks in the Mother Lode. During his search, Long ran into a rich placer that he found in the mountains on the north end of Dale. He was able to recover around one hundred ounces in just a short amount of time and then went over to San Bernardino to let his fortune be known of and to celebrate. He also took advantage and stocked up with enough supplies to last him for a good amount of time so he could return to the rich placer. Long then started his trip back to the mountains however, on his way there he had an accident where he injured his leg very badly. He was not able to work and his leg began to turn green. Upon this event, he decided it would be best to turn back to San Bernardino in order to get his leg checked by a doctor. Long was so ill that he simply left everything there at the placer. Long arrived to San Bernardino however, he died a few minutes later. He asked the doctor who saw him to please write a letter to a friend of his in which he indicated that the rich deposit he had found was located in a little brush canyon just over twelve miles east of Dale Dry Lake, right under a spring. A few years later, a miner that was in the Sheephole Mountains found a shotgun and various other articles in a little canyon in this exact area. This miner was not aware of the area he had landed in, and therefore did not search the area. Many years later he found out about the letter and Long. He went back to look but was not able to find it again.

The Legend of the Volcano
There is a legend that the Indians told about a volcano that was lined with gold in the Hexie Mountains and this legend was passed on to the white man. Supposedly a couple miners found this gold lined volcano and carried as much gold as they could in a few minutes. As usually occurs in these legends, they spent their findings and told people they were able to take all the gold they wanted from this volcano at any time. When they spent all the gold they had accumulated from the volcano, they decided it was time to go back and head out to the Hexie Mountains again. This was the last time these two were seen. Some think the two miners opened up their mouths too much and were murdered by the Indians given that the volcano was considered sacred grounds to the Indians. The Hexie Mountains now belong to the Joshua Tree National Park.